Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: New safety device could catch on soon

Friday, July 13, 2001 | 11:12 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand's motor sports notebook appears Friday. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089.

The "Humpy Bumper," an energy-absorbing safety device that was conceived and developed in Las Vegas, could be on the front ends of Winston Cup cars by the end of next month, according to one of its designers.

Jason Schiers, vice president of Las Vegas-based Lew Composites, said the company soon will conduct one final test of the Humpy Bumper for Winston Cup teams at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and then will begin producing the devices for interested teams.

"We'll invite the teams and the drivers to come out for the test and we're going to crash a couple Winston Cup cars into the wall on the track," Schiers said. "After that, we're hoping to try to have the bumpers on cars by August."

Schiers said the on-track crash test would be more of a marketing tool than an actual data-collecting exercise. Lew Composites already has turned over to NASCAR data from earlier computer simulations and sled crash tests conducted at the University of Daytona Research institute and General Motors.

"This test will be based more on the marketing side than anything," Schiers said. "We (already) have been able to prove what we said (it) could do ... so at this point we're not trying to prove anything to anyone other than our customers right now. We want to let them see it work in an environment in which they're used to and comfortable with.

"NASCAR understands the quality of the product and have pretty much given us a green light to put the product on the cars."

Although NASCAR will not mandate the use of the Humpy Bumper, it has told the company that it won't prevent teams from using the device in competition.

The Humpy Bumper was designed by Lew Composites founder and president Paul Lew along with Schiers and Ted Love. The device, which is expected to sell for about $6,000, will be produced at the company's plant at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Research and Development Park.

Made of a space-age unidirectional graphite fiber, the bumper has proven to lessen the impact on drivers during head-on and near head-on crashes, and will reduce the types of head and neck injuries that killed NASCAR drivers Dale Earnhardt, Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin and Tony Roper, Schiers said.

When asked his impressions of the new speedway, located in Joliet, Ill., Stewart replied: "I don't know anything about it, to be honest. I know the real racetrack there is the dirt track next door." ...

Maintenance on Texas Motor Speedway's racing surface is at the midway point and is on schedule, according to speedway officials.

The 1.5-mile speedway surface is being re-paved with a granite-based asphalt compound that will dry much faster than the current limestone-based compound.

For the Team Players drivers, both of whom maintain residences in Las Vegas, this weekend's race is a focal point of the season. But Carpentier said it is important for him not to place too much emphasis on any one race.

"We talk quite a lot about Molson Indy Toronto and how much it means to us," Carpentier, who finished seventh in Toronto last year, said. "All of us want to be able to put on a good show for the Canadian crowd and you can be sure we're all going to give that extra effort to put up some good results.

"But you can't let yourself get too pumped up because you need to focus on the job you have to do." ...

R.P.M., the newly formed rock band featuring CART drivers Carpentier and Kenny Brack, will make its debut today at Wayne Gretzky's Restaurant in Toronto during the Molson Indy Drivers VIP Party.

R.P.M., which stands for Racing Powered Music, features Carpentier on drums, Brack on guitar, lead vocalist Elizabeth Fornal of CART and bassist Laz Denes of Mo Nunn Racing.

Among the drivers testing in Nashville were IRL points leader Sam Hornish Jr. (Panther Racing), 1999 series champion Greg Ray (Team Menard), rookie Felipe Giaffone (Treadway-Hubbard Racing) and Billy Boat, who served as a test driver for Cheever Indy Racing.

"I was a little apprehensive about coming to a fast track that's concrete because concrete doesn't normally have the grip that asphalt does," Ray said. "The grip was pretty good. The upside of concrete is that it's very consistent once you get in the window of operation. It's a fun, fast track."

"The NHRA Summit Racing Series finale was moved to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in order to better accommodate the growth of the event and meet the needs of the racers," NHRA Division 7 director Charlie Neilson said.

"We are both pleased and excited that the NHRA has chosen The Strip as the site of the 2001 Summit Racing Series Pacific Division Finals," LVMS general manager Chris Powell said. "Our wish would be to host this event in Las Vegas every year."

The event is expected to attract more than 800 teams.

The Strip will host a test and tune session this evening and the 10th round of bracket racing at 4 p.m. Saturday. ...

The Bullring at LVMS will run the ninth NASCAR Weekly Racing Series event of the season Saturday night with competition in NASCAR Late Models, Outlaw Stocks, Chargers, Legend Cars and Bandolero Cars, as well as a motorhome/school bus race. Racing begins at 6:30.